Rainy roads on Long Island, freezing rain north and flight delays impacting one of the busiest travel days of the year Sunday

Long Islanders making their way home on Sunday should watch out for black ice and flight delays, as winter weather is expected to impact one of the busiest travel days of the year.

Rain after 7 p.m. will begin the process of melting much of the snow that piled up across Long Island on Friday and Saturday, according to the weather service. Parts of Long Island woke up to as much as 8 inches this weekend.

"There should be a decent amount of melting between the rain and the warm temperatures [on Monday]," said Matthew Wunsch, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.

Temperatures on Sunday evening will rise just above freezing, Wunsch said. Monday will warm up into the 50s and then drop below freezing again at night, he added.

The weather service warned those driving on Sunday to look out for ice on the roads, especially under shaded roadways and under bridges.

AAA suggested drivers wait until after 8 p.m. on Sunday to make their treks, avoiding heavy traffic predicted between 11 a.m. and 8 p.m. Minimal traffic is expected for those driving on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day.

Those traveling north of the city should check conditions before heading out Sunday. The weather service predicts freezing rain in parts of Connecticut and Westchester, Orange and Rockland counties. As temperatures warm on Sunday night, freezing rain will shift to regular rain just after midnight.

More than 122 million Americans will drive over 50 miles from home in the last week or so of the year, according to AAA. That’s a 2% increase from last year’s record number of drivers.

Traffic was close to normal on Sunday, according to the state Department of Transportation, and Long Island Rail Road trains were running on or close to schedule.

Meanwhile, across the nation’s airports, an average of nearly 3 million passengers are flying each day in the last two weeks of December, according to the Airlines for America trade association. New York City was the 7th most popular holiday travel destination, according to AAA.

About one-in-five flights leaving Kennedy and LaGuardia airports were canceled on Saturday, among 1,300 cancellations nationwide.

As of 10 a.m. Sunday, about 180 flights leaving Kennedy, LaGuardia and Newark were delayed, according to the online flight-tracking website, FlightAware. Another 23 departing and 25 incoming flights were canceled as of Sunday morning.